About the Lushoto Distict
The Lushoto district is the area in which we focus our efforts.
The Usambara Mountains extend from the district of Muheza, Korogwe to Lushoto. They are divided into two ranges – the West and East Usambaras. The West Usambara Mountains is all in Lushoto district. They are the ones making the natural border with the Republic of Kenya. The information provided below is for Lushoto District i.e. the West Usambara Mountains.
The mountains cover an area of 3,500 km2 with a total of 176 villages and a total population of 420,000 by the 2002 national census. The family size is approximated at 8 people.
Most of the people (85%) are peasants engaged in small-scale farming (men and women work together on their farms). The rest are traders and workers.
The main cash crops are vegetables, Irish potatoes, coffee, tea, cardamom, cowpeas, and temperate fruits (pears, plums, apples, citrus, pineapples, avocado and macadamia). The main food crops are maize, beans, cassava, potatoes, rice and wheat.
The people here are very industrious. They utilize small areas of land to produce high yields, which they use for themselves and the extra they sell to get money. Of course they have their own life goals – they build their own houses, raise families and send their children to school. School uniforms are bought from shops or they ask a tailor to make for them. They know they are poor that is why they work very hard to improve their lives. Malaria is the main killer especially of children under 5.
Forests: The forest is divided into dense and open forests i.e. shrubs, and bushes. They cover an area of 41,707 hectares of land equivalent to 12% of the total district area. Deforestation was mainly due to ecological balance through cutting down trees to give way to farmland, timber for sale and for firewood.
The main trees found in the forests and farmlands are ocotea usambarensis, newtonia buchananii, albizia, cassuarina, acrocarpus, grevillea robusta, eucalyptus and ficus.
Wild animals include the blue monkeys, yellow baboons, bats, rhinos, pigs, antelopes, lions, leopards and hyenas.